Basilica dell'Osservanza

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Facade of the Basilica dell'Osservanza in Siena
The Basilica dell'Osservanza with the old entrance area seen from the south
The Basilica dell'Osservanza as seen from Siena in the evening

The Basilica dell'Osservanza is a church north-east of the old town of Siena . It has had the title of a minor basilica since 1924.

location

The church is located on the Colle della Capriola hill in the Scacciapensieri district of Senes . It is the only one of the four Senese basilicas that is outside the city ​​walls of Siena , and it is the smallest of them. It is considered to be the most important church outside the walls of Siena.

It includes a library , three cloisters , the convent , the crypt , the Loggia dei Pandolfi , the sacristy , the Oratorio di San Bernardino and the refectory and, since 1920, the Aurelio Castelli Museum .

An impressive panorama of the city of Siena opens up from the terrace.

history

On the initiative of Pier Paolo d'Ugolino Ugurgieri, the project to build a church on the site of a chapel already built by St. Bernardine was born in 1474. The building was built from 1476 to 1490 in the Renaissance style. The owner is attributed to Francesco di Giorgio and / or Giacomo Cozzarelli .

The Senese ruler Pandolfo Petrucci expanded the church from 1495 to 1496 to include the crypt, the convent and the family grave of Petrucci. When Siena was besieged by Florence in 1554/55, the church was badly damaged and rebuilt in the Baroque era . Architectural renovations took place from 1683 to 1704. The campanile was built in 1719. The earthquake of 1798 caused further damage.

The basilica was restored from 1922 to 1932. On January 23, 1944, with the exception of the facade and some side walls, it was almost completely destroyed in a bomb attack by the armed forces of the United States, but was rebuilt almost true to the original using the stones that had not been destroyed from 1945 to 1949.

The building consists of a single-nave nave, which is vaulted by two flat domes and surrounded by eight side chapels, the presbytery is also domed.

The church is named after the unknown artist Meister der Osservanza , who left a triptych in the fourth chapel on the right. Church and convent are run by the Frati minori . Before the church was built, there was already a smaller convent, in which Bernardine of Siena had lived as a hermit in 1444 before he left for L'Aquila and died there. Therefore, a replica of the Cella di San Bernardino (cell of St. Bernardine) can be found in the convent today .

inner space

The inside of the facade was decorated by Andrea Della Robbia with two medallion-shaped reliefs made of glazed clay, they show St. Bonaventure and St. Louis of Toulouse . The two statues on the pillars of the triumphal arch in the same technique represent the Annunciation and were probably made around 1485.

In the interior there is the fresco Madonna Enthroned with John the Baptist and St. Jerome by Pietro di Francesco Orioli . The main nave contains four chapels on both sides, which are listed here counterclockwise, starting at the entrance on the right, with their respective furnishings (selection).

  • Cappella 1 (Cappella di Sant'Antonio di Padova): Christ on the cross with saints by Bartolomeo Neroni , called Il Riccio, detached fresco from 1548.
  • Cappella 2 (Cappella dell'Addolorata): Pietà with five saints by Giovanni di Paolo .
  • Cappella 3 (Cappella dell'Ecce Homo): Madonna Enthroned with St. Jerome and St. Bernardine , around 1460, triptych by Sano di Pietro ; St. Elisabeth of Thuringia by Girolamo di Benvenuto (attributed, originated at the end of the 15th century) and St Bernardine of Siena by Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio (originated in 1444).
  • Cappella 4 (Cappella dell'Ascensione): Madonna with St. Ambrose and St. Jerome , around 1436, triptych by the Master of the Osservanza
  • Cappella 5 (Cappella del Natale): Four saints: Johannes dT, Francis, Peter and Johannes d. Ev. by Andrea di Bartolo , 1413
  • Cappella 6 (Cappella dell'Epifania): Crucifixion of Christ with saints (also called Pala dei Pieri ) by Bartolomeo Neroni, called Il Riccio
  • Cappella 7 (Cappella dell'Assunzione): Coronation of the Virgin with saints by Andrea Della Robbia, 1475, destroyed in World War II and later restored
  • Cappella 8 (Cappella dell'Immacolata): L'Angelico di Siena by Sano di Pietro

Library

The Basilica dell'Osservanza as seen from Siena (San Francesco)
Rear detail with campanile, dome and old entrance area
The Basilica dell'Osservanza from Palazzo Salimbeni of view

The basilica's library contains around 28,000 books from the years 1400 to 1900. The first inventory was created in 1876 by Aurelio Castelli. The library has a total of five incunabula from the 15th century, including the work Sermones del Evangelio aeterno by San Bernardino from 1489.

Cloisters

The first cloister (Italian: Chiostro) is the oldest and is located below the Loggia di Pandolfo . The Chiostro Centrale was built between 1683 and 1694 and contains a cistern from 1722. The third cloister is the Chiostro dell'Infermeria from the 16th century (also called Chiostro cinquecentesco ).

Petrucci's crypt and family tomb

  • The crypt is under the nave and contains the tombs of Giacomo Cozzarelli (architect of the sacristy and Senese artist who also worked in the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino ), Guidoccio Cozzarelli , Francesco di Giorgio, Pietro di Francesco Orioli and Bernardino Perfetti.
  • The Sepolcreto dei Petrucci is located under the sacristy and contains the tombs of Pandolfo Petrucci and Celia Petrucci, among others.

Oratorio di San Bernardino

Oratory in the convent with a replica of Bernardino's cell (Cella di San Bernardino). Contains a bust of St. Bernardino, which is attributed to the Vecchietta .

refectory

The refectory was built between 1696 and 1704. It contains the canvas painting L'ultima cena by Francesco Franci, a priest from Siena who made the painting around 1710.

sacristy

The sacristy was designed by Giacomo Cozzarelli and contains the Petrucci coat of arms. The Compianto sul Cristo morto work, a group of sculptures made of terracotta, is also on site .

Museo Aurelio Castelli

The museum opened in 1920. After being damaged in World War II, it was reopened. It contains works by Antonio Federighi ( Lapide sepolcrale di Niccolò Piccolomini , 1476), Girolamo di Benvenuto ( Giudizio universale ) and Francesco d'Antonio ( Reliquiario di San Bernardino , 1462) as well as a manuscript by Albertus Magnus (De Animalibus).

literature

Web links

Commons : Basilica dell'Osservanza in Siena  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Basilica di S. Bernardino da Siena on gcatholic.org
  2. ^ Piero Torriti: Tutta Siena. Contrada per Contrada. P. 399
  3. ↑ Vannini p. 78
  4. ↑ cf. TCI p. 578
  5. ↑ Vannini pp. 33-43, 79
  6. ^ L'Osservanza ( Memento of October 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 10, 2013 (ital.)
  7. ↑ Vannini p. 67
  8. ↑ Vannini p. 57 ff.
  9. ^ Website of the Basilica on the tombs , accessed on February 24, 2013 (ital.)
  10. ↑ Vannini p. 44 f.
  11. ↑ Vannini p. 56 f.
  12. ↑ Vannini p. 45 ff.
  13. ↑ Fondazione Zeri on Compianto sul Cristo morto ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (with ill. In b / w), accessed on February 24, 2013 (Italian)
  14. ↑ Sienaonline.it on the Museo Aurelio Castelli , accessed on February 25, 2013 (ital.)

Coordinates: 43 ° 19 ′ 55.9 ″  N , 11 ° 20 ′ 21.5 ″  E